The Real Ronin Warriors
by Takatome Ichido
Summary: You ever read all that fluff about super powers, blue hair, and elemental control? Lies! All lies! This is what REALLY went down. Please r & r! ^________^ Oh, like I seriously care if I get reviews; I'm posting! Why? Cause I want to! ^_^
1. 1

The Real Ronin Warriors  
  
"Oh, honey?" a sweet and melodious voice beckoned from the family room. "There's the cutest thing on T.V.! You just HAVE to see it!"  
  
Sliding down his black framed glasses, Touma Hashiba rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly, willing the aching between his eyes to go away. "All right, dear, be there in a second!" Sighing, he pushed his chair away from the table, stretching and popping the various vertebras in his back, glad to relieve some of the tension he felt.  
  
Bare feet padding across the wooden floor, the twenty eight year old professor made his way through the hallway into the family room. He could just hear the blaring of explosions mixed with the happy gurglings of his son. Smiling, he wondered what stupid cartoon his wife had found to expose their young child to. She sure did love those... And he had to admit that a few were pretty funny. Too bad HE hadn't gotten to watch those idiotic little things when he was a child.  
  
"SAGE! WATCH OUT!"  
  
"So. Whatcha watchin'?" Touma drawled, arriving behind his wife to surprise her with a kiss before planting one on the head of his fuzzy little son's.  
  
"There is the most ADORABLE show on, Touma!" his wife gushed, a blinding smile on her face, happiness and excitement radiating from her. "It's called Ronin Warriors and it's based after you and your friends!"  
  
"What?" he managed before turning to see a blue haired youth yell, "Arrow Shock Wave!" and blast a pretty lame eighties looking arrow into nothingness.  
  
"See? That's you, honey!" the woman next to him smiled some more.  
  
"Me?" he answered numbly, absently running his hand through his light brown hair. "But my hair isn't blue. And my name is Touma Hashiba. Who's this guy?"  
  
"He's Rowen, which is what the translated of your name would be, honey or something like that, i guess. ^.^ And remember? When you were a teenager you used to dye your hair blue. It was so cute!" *smile smile* ^.^ ^.^  
  
Sitting down on the armrest of his sky blue sofa, Touma stared at the screen some more to see five teenagers gather together and face a large head. It all seemed to be something that only a crackpot would come up with. "What's this all about?"  
  
"Well, I think that those guys are going to save the world by defeating that funny floating head thingie. And so, anyways, the blue one is you, Rowen, the blonde one is your friend Seiji, Sage, the auburn haired one is Shin, Cye, the blue black haired boy is Shuu, Kento, and the black haired boy is Ryo, Ryo. Isn't it all so adorable?"  
  
"Yeah... But how do you know that it's us? I mean, we never did anything like that as far as I can remember, so..." Touma continued, still confused.  
  
"Well, you remember that little comic book series that company, what was it? Sunrise, ah.... something.... did on you guys? Shin, Ryo, and you had come up with the storyline and sold it to various companies, including CLAMP because it was so popular. And then you gave the legal rights over to Seiji. During the commercial the animating company interviewed him, in which he told how he had sold the story to the company years ago but was very pleased that it had finally come to air here in America. Isn't that wonderful?"  
  
"I guess, Lili, but Seiji never said anything to me about that," Touma answered thoughtfully. "He'd never do anything as irresponsible as selling the story without conversing with us first. Perhaps he's in some sort of financial trouble?"  
  
"But didn't you tell me that he's the head of that major dojo, the Date dojo? It's one of the top dojos of Japan. Why would he need money? His family is loaded."  
  
"I don't know but--"  
  
"Come on, Ryo! What are you waiting for? Let's just smash in and cook Talpa!"  
  
"Come on, Rowen, we can't just go in without a plan."  
  
"He's right, Rowen, we need to think clearly."  
  
"Aw, Sage! You're no fun, man! I'm all with Rowen here, let's just push in and I'LL give Talpa a Hard Rock Homecoming! Yeah!"  
  
"You never think, Kento."  
  
"What did you say, Sage?! Wanna say that again?!"  
  
"Now, now, come on, guys, we've gotta stick together."  
  
"Is that SHIN with the British accent?" Touma gasped, laughing. "He's JAPANESE! Why would he have a BRITISH accent?"  
  
  
  
  
  
Okay, that's the first VERY short installment. It's a new thing I'm trying. If I get at least five reviews I'll continue. Not until then though. So... Here's hoping! ^.^ ^.-  
  
Until later everyones! Ja ne!  
  
Keebler (nickname, everyone, nickname) ^_- 


	2. 2

The Real Ronin Warriors  
  
(Heh heh. I'm blowing off homework to do this. But it's a Thursday; who cares?)  
  
  
  
"Hey, man! Cell for you!" a short man with curling close cropped blonde hair called out, stepping into the sunlight cast by a skylight and tossing a tiny aquagreen phone in the direction of a startled twenty nine year old who had just risen from his submersion in a large Olympic sized pool. He deftly grabbed the phone from the air, fumbled with it, careening about wildly all the while, before flipping it on and gasping, "Hello?" mere seconds before he collapsed backwards into the pool once more.  
  
"Shin?" Shuu asked confusedly, hearing a strange gurgling and splashing song on the other end. He started to bash the phone into the table before his girlfriend snatched the phone from his hand, swatting his nose with a chocolate batter covered wooden spoon and shaking it threateningly in his face. "I TOLD you not to do that Shuu." She handed the phone back to him, some of her wavy red hair getting in her eyes. "Now DON'T let me catch you do that again or NO dessert. Got me?"  
  
"Yes," the dark brunette uttered weakly.  
  
"Good."  
  
Holding the phone back up to his ear, Shuu turned around once more, staring at the familiar "Dogs Playing Poker" picture that he always looked at while talking on the phone. And to imagine that someone would sell it on eBay for ten dollars! Those stupid stupid Americans....  
  
"Hey, buddy? Shin? Ya there?"  
  
Loud sputtering and choking was heard on the other end as the reception got much clearer. He could hear a loud thumping like a hand slapping a back and a tiny feminine voice saying, "Good thing your phone is waterproof, mister."  
  
"Ya... yeah..." the strangled reply came weakly.  
  
"Shin? Is this a bad time?"  
  
"H-Hello?"  
  
"Shin?"  
  
"HELLO!"  
  
"SHIN!!"  
  
"Is someone there because I'm-- Oh, it's upside down. Silly me."  
  
Shuu wanted to hit something. Ever since that near death experience at the exercise center three years ago, Shin was forgetful. Poor guy. No wonder he had so little girlfriends.... (He couldn't remember where to pick them up and when. Very tragic.)  
  
"Hello now."  
  
"Hey, Shin? It's me, Shuu."  
  
On the other end of the line, Shin wrinkled his delicate nose thoughtfully. Shuu? Where had he heard that name.... Ah, yes. "Hey, Shuu, is my car ready yet?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Oh, silly me; sorry, Shuu, I spaced out there for a second. Now were you saying something?"  
  
"I just wanted to know if you were still coming over for dinner tonight. You said that you were last week but I wanted to remind you so..."  
  
"Yeah, I remember. Isn't your girlfriend over?"  
  
"Well..." Shuu glanced over his shoulder like a conspiracy artist, towards the direction that Tanya had gone in. "Soon to be fiancé. I wanted to ask her tonight, but you know that I'm not good at romantic situations and..."  
  
"You wanted me to help along!" Shin filled in brightly, glad to have caught the plan early on. "It'll be fun! Besides, how often does a guy get to help his best friend propose the right way?" 'Hmm....' he thought to himself. 'Never. I've never heard that done before.'  
  
"Never," Shuu echoed flatly, beginning to doubt if having his friend over to help him propose to his girlfriend was such a brilliant idea.... The doctor HAD told him that he had suffered a few damaged brain cells from that last fight....  
  
"Well, it'll be interesting, that's for sure," Shin was saying. "Just pick me up; I still have some more rounds to do at the community center. Akemi and I are making a great headway and I'd hate to have to stop now."  
  
"Akemi? That little paralyzed girl?"  
  
"Yes," the red head lowered his voice, glancing back at the happy black haired girl splashing in an overly large inner tube. "She's regaining some of the movement in her thighs. The physical therapists say that if we keep up our schedule or speed it up slightly, she may be able to walk in a few months. The family is really happy."  
  
"I'll bet," the brunette answered sincerely. He could just remember the joyous look on Shin's face when he had walked a whole ten feet. It was the sweetest thing that he could remember....  
  
"Yeah, so pick me up in about an hour. Is that good?"  
  
"Yeah, man, see you there. Bye."  
  
"Bye, Shuu."  
  
Click.  
  
Turning back to the young girl, who had just started to sing an old Japanese folk song, the older man asked, "You ready to resume our session, Akemi?"  
  
"Yeah, but," Akemi giggled, eyes trained onto Shin's head. "Won't your hair dye wash out, mister Shin?"  
  
Ruefully fluffing out his red hair, Shin smiled, "Don't worry; it only comes out with shampoo," and began to climb back into the water, ready to help the ten year old with another grueling exercise.  
  
Nearly a hundred miles away, Shuu banged his head on the wall, causing his head to start pounding. "I forgot to tell him about what Seiji and Touma said..."  
  
"SHUU! WHAT DID I SAY?!" Tanya bellowed.  
  
  
  
Well, that's the next "chapter" thingie. I'm really glad that I had such quick reviews so I'm trying to post 'em as fast as you guys can review 'em. Here's hoping for a lot more; how does five more (reviews, please) sound to all of ya'll? ^_^  
  
Oh, and thanks to Demon Faerie Aeryka, Firestorm, Cookie, Shadow_Fax, and Opaque for being my first reviews and setting me on my way! (the first time I posted it. I saved all of your reviews. thanks a lot everyone! ^_^ I was so happy!)  
  
Arigato lots! And peace out!  
  
^_^  
  
Keebler ^_^ 


	3. 3

The Real Ronin Warriors  
  
"Near disaster was averted today when deputy fire marshal Ryo Sanada tracked down the anonymous phone call to apartment 6B here, in downtown Toyama, rescuing the young family of four and quickly snuffing out the small fire that had already destroyed most of the family's kitchen. I'm here now with this local hero. What have you to say about your accomplishments, Mr. Sanada?" the petite Japanese woman asked, short hair pulled back behind her ears, shoving her microphone in the face of a large structured man with tumbled down black hair somewhere around his broad shoulders, soot and ash contrasting sharply with his shocking tiger blue eyes.  
  
"Well, it was just good instincts, I guess," the twenty seven year old answered nervously, glancing at the camera momentarily. "I just hear this kind of crackling in the background and Mrs. Kumayari was screaming so I traced the call. I was just getting off duty anyway...." he trailed off, still not over his camera shyness completely.  
  
"Outstanding job, Mr. Sanada. It's nice to see that our nation's youth are getting involved with the safety of others. You are a very responsible young man. Now, we'll go to the landlord with information on smoke alarms that apparently do not work. What have you to say on that sir?"  
  
Sighing, the tall Japanese man turned around, searching for the family in question. He knew that they were being treated in one of ambulances and wanted to check on them. That little girl had gotten one or two serious burns.....  
  
"Ryo! Ryo!" a voice caught his attention and he turned, seeing a frantic looking thirty something woman waving at him from the cut off line. Her brownish hair was falling down from her tight bun and the man next to her kept trying to calm her down. "Are you all right, Ryo?!"  
  
Not moving forward, the man in question forced a smile to his face and waved one of his arms, his powerful voice booming, "Yeah, Nasuki! I'm all right! I'll see you in a second, just let me check on the family!"  
  
"Okay, Ryo! Be careful though!"  
  
Resuming his search, the man spied a nearby ambulance and walked over, relieved to see two tiny black haired individuals hugging a small girl tightly as a few tears streamed down her face. Her two younger brothers watched confused, both teething on various toys in the arms of the doctors. A large bandage covered the little girl's left cheek and one was wrapped around her left hand. Ryo's heart melted at the sight and he stepped forward, hoping not to disturb the scene but still needing to speak with the family. "Mr. and Mrs. Kumayari? Sachi?" he asked gently.  
  
With alarmed looks on their faces, Mr. and Mrs. Kumayari spun around, still retaining their irongrips on their daughter. At the sight of the unruly looking man still in his grungy looking fire uniform, they visibly relaxed, loosening their hold on their daughter ever so slightly. The two boys began to clap and laugh, reaching out with chubby little hands to the fire marshal. "Mr. Sanada...." Mrs. Kumayari breathed.  
  
"Ryo?" the little girl asked, perking up, most of her tears already stopping. She strained to see around her parents' protective shoulders, her tiny voice muffled. "Is Ryo here?"  
  
Moving so that Sachi could see him better, Ryo began to nervously twist his hands together, still keeping eye contact however. He waved at the girl quickly, saying, "Hi, Sachi," before turning to her parents. "Is everything all right here?" He eyed the one or two bandages on the two adults, noting that the twins appeared to be unharmed.  
  
"Yes, yes," the short, slightly balding man answered enthusiastically, rushing forward to vigorously shake Ryo's hand, a good six inches short than him. "Thanks to you; I don't know how I can ever thank you enough for saving our little girl here."  
  
Tears began to spring up in Mrs. Kumayari's onyx black eyes, the same color as her daughter's. "She was supposed to be right next to me and we were holding hands... Somehow in the smoke and confusion she just slipped out and then I was shoved against a wall and I and I..." trailing off, she broke into sobs, tightly squeezing her eight year old daughter.  
  
Confused, the two boys began to bawl along with their mother as she buried her face in her hands, her husband coming over to pat her back, whispering comforting words. Sachi looked like she would break out crying any moment now.  
  
Ryo hated this. He hated scenarios that just seemed to play out like this, involving innocent people getting hurt for no reason. The Kumayaris had no reason to blame themselves either, as no one in that apartment had started the fire. It just filled him with so much rage when he thought that some idiot would purposely start a fire like that.... That .... jerk...  
  
Caught up in his own emotions, he was broken out of it sharply when a small figure latched itself onto his leg. Looking down he saw gorgeous black eyes rimmed with tears blinking up at him, a large bandage nearly covering half of her left eye. Tiny white but now dirtied arms were attached to his leg firmly as the girl tried to keep a hold of her anchor. She barely reached up to his waist.  
  
Kneeling down, the firefighter took off one of his clumsy flame retardant gloves, stroking the fizzed black hair with his large callused hand, trying to calm the rapidly panicking girl. "Tell me what's wrong, Sachi."  
  
Burying her face into his grimy pant leg, Sachi whispered in a small voice, "I'm scared, Ryo."  
  
"Of what, Sachi?" Ryo had lowered his voice to match her whisper.  
  
"My face hurts. And there's this big mark there. What if it stays like that forever?" she whimpered, new tears beginning to slide down her tiny full cheeks.  
  
Frowning, but keeping up the soothing stroking on her head, Ryo was at a lose for words. This all reminded him of that incident nearly fifteen years ago, when his uncle had been tracked down by some of his employers. The shack that they'd been living in was torched, with his uncle managing to get in a crawl space and saving his own skin. But the young boy... Ryo.... The deep scar on his upper right shoulder that led down to the middle of his back pulled as his muscles twitched, but the man ignored it, used to the little spasms of pain that it caused every time that happened. It was his disfigurement, not the only "gift" from the night, but the largest one. Burnt skin had formed scars on the soles of his feet, especially on the balls, making him feel as though he were continuously walking on needles when he didn't wear hard soled shoes. His shins and calves were laced with other scars and his entire right arm was disfigured. He knew what it felt like to live with scars. He knew how she'd be teased and taunted, eventually digging herself deeper and deeper into a shell of depression. Even if she had loving parents where he'd had social workers and strict nuns, it wouldn't be that much different for her. His heart ached at the mere thought of this young innocent girl in any more pain.  
  
Tilting her tiny dimpled chin upwards so that his tiger blue eyes caught her black ones, he stared into them for a few minutes as the tears began to quit their flowing gradually. He smiled gingerly and the girl lighted up, once more feeling the calm reassurance that she had felt when he hand carried her out of the blazing kitchen and into the cool air of the street. "The doctors checked you out, right?" he asked.  
  
She nodded shyly.  
  
"Let me talk to them and your parents. There is this good friend of mine that is a very good doctor. He can cure just about anything with no scars. I'll talk to your parents and doctors about letting you go see him. Is that all right?" he questioned, softly moving a stray strand of hair away from her watering eyes.  
  
Smiling, she nodded again, saying, "Sure, Ryo! And then I won't have to wear a bandage right?"  
  
"That's right. Now go to your family and tell them that you're fine. Be a big girl for me, okay?"  
  
"Okay, Ryo," she answered solemnly in the way that only a child can before walking over to her family and giving her parents a big hug, caught in between them and her now bored brothers.  
  
"It's nice to see a happy ending, isn't it?" the older of the two doctors commented, folding her white robed arms across her chest.  
  
"Sure is," her companion answered, hazel eyes trained on the embracing family.  
  
"Hoshi, can I speak to you?" Ryo asked, coming up to the two musing women.  
  
The younger one turned to him, eyes happy behind their glasses. "Certainly, Mr. Sanada! I still have to thank you for your quick thinking; you're quite the hero, did you know that?"  
  
"Yes," he bowed his head in thanks and turned to the idea that he had in mind. "I'm sure that you know of Seiji Date."  
  
When they answered with a reply of confirmation, he continued on.  
  
"Well, he is one of the top dermalabrasionists in the eastern hemisphere, also a standing pediatrician. If you could transfer Sachi's records over to his hospital in Tokyo, I'm sure that he could do something about her scarring."  
  
"You do know that we will need confirmation from the legal guardians, don't you, Ryo?" the older of the two women asked.  
  
"Not to mention from her old doctors. The procedure will probably cost a lot of money too," Hoshi added, arms still crossed.  
  
"Yes, but, from what I know, Mr. Kumayari makes quite a bit of money and Dr. Date is an old friend of mine. He will discount special situations; he's done it before."  
  
"Not to mention that he's not exactly low in the funds himself," the older woman commented a little dryly.  
  
"Well... yes. But I'm sure Mr. and Mrs. Kumayari will agree and, if you two help to influence her regular doctors along with her parents, I know that they'll give in. And," he cast his sad blue eyes at her achingly. "I know what children with scars go through."  
  
"Ah... yes," Hoshi said lamely, trying to avoid further discussion. "Well, if you agree to speak with her guardians about this...."  
  
He nodded.  
  
"Then we'll support you and discuss the matter with her regular doctors. When do you think we can contact Dr. Date?" the older woman finished for Hoshi.  
  
"I'm supposed to be meeting with him sometime tonight, Maiji," Ryo answered serenely, glad that the young girl would be getting the care that she deserved. "I can speak to him about it tonight and give you confirmation tomorrow at about two. Is that good for you, Hoshi?"  
  
"Yes, now speak with the family. I have to go tend some more of my patients," and the group parted.  
  
  
  
Third chapter done! Yay!  
  
(this is for the first time i posted and yes! i kept every review! thank you! ^_^) And thanks to everyone for the reviews! I'd especially like to thank new reviewers DawningLight2000 and maryd! And, of course, Firestorm. Wow! My first groupie!  
  
Yeah, riiiiiiiiight......  
  
What do you mean, what did I do to Shin, DawningLight? And don't worry, Takatome can take care of herself! ^_^ But don't worry, all people have problems. And, perhaps, if I get enough encouragement, I'll fully explain what happened to Shin. But, like a lot of people, the Ronins don't really like to talk or think about most bad things that happen to their friends. Ryo is the obvious exception because he's so honest and open with his feelings. So there we goes!  
  
And, let's see... Four reviews from last time... Very nice! Thank you! ^_^  
  
Can I get five reviews more to continue, please?  
  
Let's see if this story is good enough for that many....  
  
Arigato again to all my wonderful little reviewers!  
  
Ja ne!  
  
Keebler ^_^  
  
(Oh, and maryd? If you really want to do that fic, go on, I guess. I don't want to stop ANYONE from doing ANY idea that they think of. Just make sure that it doesn't sound like mine please. Thank you again for the review!) 


End file.
